Hungary and Serbia move forward with crude pipeline project, aiming for 2028 completion

Another “brave and sovereign decision” could result in the construction of a crude pipeline between Hungary and Serbia, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said after a meeting with Dubravka Đedović, Serbia’s energy minister, in Belgrade on Wednesday.

Szijjártó said the feasibility study for the pipeline had been completed in Hungary and presented to representatives of both governments by Hungarian oil and gas company MOL on Wednesday. He added that the Serbian side had cleared the zoning regulations necessary for the construction.

The pipeline, which will bring crude to Serbia, could finish by 2028, he said. Before that, the capacity of the pipeline running from the Ukrainian-Hungarian border to MOL’s refinery south of the capital needs to be expanded, while a 190km pipeline must be constructed running to the Serbian border, he added.

Szijjártó said the capacity of the new pipeline would be around 4.5 million tonnes per year, allowing the Pancevo refinery and Serbia to be supplied entirely from Hungary. He pointed to serious challenges to energy security in Central Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine and said Brussels had not offered any assistance in the matter; rather, it had often taken steps that were opposed to the region’s energy security interests.

“On this topic, it’s clear that we can only rely on ourselves,” he added. He acknowledged the “enormous role” Hungarian-Serbian energy cooperation plays to ensure both countries’ energy security, noting that Hungary gets its gas via Serbia, through the TurkStream pipeline.

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